The 61-year-old, who knows SFA Performance Director Malky Mackay and fellow youth team coach Brian McLaughlin well from his time at Celtic as Tommy Burns’ No.2, is looking forward to working again with the national team set-up.

He added: “Brian and Malky were players at Celtic when I was assistant manager to Tommy, then I signed Brian for St Johnstone.

“I also remember getting Scot [Gemmill] started with the Scottish FA initially. I met him up at Stirling Albion when I was watching a youth game. It was the second or third time I’d seen him.

“He was such a football obsessive that he’d rented a flat and was taking in as many games as he could, so I made sure to get him involved in the setup and the rest is history.

“And I actually signed the new chief executive, Ian Maxwell, too. I took him to St Johnstone and he stood out because he was intelligent – which goes against the stereotype that surrounds footballers.

“Scottish football is a small wee world but I’m happy to see how far they’ve all come and how they’ve progressed to take on leadership roles.”